Ghana government blamed for protest march shooting

Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report) Date: Fri, May 12, 1995

Organisers of a big anti-government protest in Ghana blamed President Jerry Rawlings on Friday for clashes in which at least five people died -- four of them from gunshot wounds. The government launched an inquiry into Thursday's unrest. But one of the organisers of the march, which rallied 50,000 protesters denouncing the rising cost of living, said any inquiry would only be effective if was independent.

"We wish to categorically state that we hold Rawlings and his NDC (National Democratic Congress) regime wholly responsible for these deaths," Nana Akuffo Addo, a leading member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, told a news conference.

Ghana, often hailed as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's model pupil in Africa, has endured over a decade of structural adjustment and belt-tightening. But it has been hit by a spate of protests this year from government workers saying they have nothing to show for it all.

Violence on Thursday's scale is, however, rare in Accra. Many shops in the usually bustling capital stayed closed on Friday. Security forces manned key intersections and buildings. "With what happened yesterday there is some degree of panic and nobody is sure what will happen again," one trader said.

It was still not clear who was responsible for the shooting which broke out when supporters of the Alliance for Change and members of a counter demonstration by the pro- government Committees for the Defence of the Revolution clashed.

Interior Minister Emmanuel Osei-Owusu issued a statement pledging a full-scale inquiry. "The minister explained that the security forces acted to bring the situation under control and gave the assurance that they will continue to employ measures to maintain law and order," state radio said. But Addo said the march was intended to be peaceful and he denounced what he called "disinformation, distortions and outright lies being shamelessly peddled by the Rawlings regime about the demonstration through the state-controlled media."

Police and doctors said four people died from gunshot wounds and one was stabbed to death. Hospital sources said two wounded people were in a critical condition. Police said they had made a number of arrests during the incidents in the capital, including a man with a pistol.

Witnesses said shooting broke out during the clashes. Some blamed members of the pro-government protest. Another said police had fired warning shots to disperse rioters and when they came under attack from a gang of youths throwing stones.

Unions have organised regular protests saying workers need up to 70 percent more pay to make ends meet. The government has offered 25 percent -- a figure rejected by the unions. The April introduction of Value Added Tax at 17.5 percent has, unions say, made life even more difficult.

A committee of government, employers and unions has been meeting to try to resolve the impasse but the government says it just does not have enough money to pay the increases demanded.

In 1978, police opened fire on stone-throwing students protesting about grants. One student died. Two students were wounded in a similar incident in 1994.